In recent months, intentional car-ramming incidents have been occurring frequently in mainland China. According to multiple suppliers, orders for road barriers and guardrails surged in November, leading some factories to hire additional labor to meet the demand.
In several recent cases of malicious retaliatory social incidents, one particularly egregious event took place on November 11th when a man drove his car into a crowd at the Guangzhou-Zhuhai Sports Center Square, indiscriminately hitting people, resulting in at least 78 casualties. As reported by the Hong Kong-based English newspaper, the South China Morning Post on December 7th, a retired resident of Zhuhai noted that since the ramming incident, more vehicle guardrails have been installed in the city’s schools, parks, and sports facilities.
Multiple suppliers of road barriers and guardrails have indicated a significant increase in inquiries and purchases of their products in November compared to previous months.
The owner of a stone processing factory in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province named Chen stated, “Factory operations usually slow down in November, and if we can sell 100 pieces this month, we would be very happy.” However, since the Zhuhai ramming incident, the sales of spherical stone pillars have multiplied, with nearly a thousand sold in November.
This product, with a diameter of 40 centimeters and weighing over 100 kilograms, is one of the cheapest products of the factory and is easy to install, allowing pedestrian passage while preventing vehicle access.
Due to the booming business, Chen had to call back some retired workers to assist in producing, transporting, and installing guardrails in dozens of schools and shopping areas.
Furthermore, a stainless steel traffic guardrail manufacturer in Jiangsu Province also reported that their shipments to customers more than doubled in November.
According to statistics from the Chinese search engine Baidu, following the Zhuhai attack, searches for keywords such as “anti-ram guardrail” and “traffic barriers” doubled.
Overall, the incidents of car-ramming have led to a sudden surge in demand for protective infrastructure, indicating a shift in priorities towards enhancing safety measures in public spaces across China. The heightened awareness of such incidents has spurred action in the form of increased installations of guardrails and road barriers to prevent similar tragedies in the future.